Shrinkage counter for looms



July 28, 1959 P. szABo' 2,896,329

SHRINKAGE COUNTER FOR LOOMS Filed March 31, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR: PAUL SZABO AGENT July 28, 1959 s d SHRINKAGE COUNTER FOR LOOMS Filed March 31, 1958 FIG. 7

I IIIII IIIA INVENTOR:

PAUL 52A 130 FIGJO July 28, 1959 P szABo 2,896,329

SHRINKAGE COUNTER FOR LOOMS I Filed March 31, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 DIFFERENTIAL INVENTOR: PAUL SZABU United States Patent Ofiice 2,896,329 Patented July 28, 1959 SI-IRINKAGE COUNTER FOR LOOMS Paul Szab, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Application March 31, 1958, Serial No. 725,065

20 Claims. (Cl. 33-129) My present invention relates to an apparatus for determining and recording the effective longitudinal warp shrinkage on looms.

The shrinkage value of fabrics or webs is an important factor of cost and cloth quality. The ratio between warp-thread and cloth lengths has to be checked during production or at least periodically. Up to now this has been accomplished by time-consuming and sometimes unreliable measurements.

It is an object of my present invention to provide, as a tool for systematic production control, means for automatically determining and indicating the effective warp shrinkage, in terms of warp length measured against the length of the finished web or against the number of weft threads as established from the number of shuttle traverses, thereby enabling ascertainment of any deviation from a predetermined shrinkage value.

It is another object of this invention to provide means for giving cumulative shrinkage readings after a prolonged period, for instance when the warp thread available on the loom has been used up, or at the end of any convenient working period such as a day or a week.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for immediately ascertaining not only the magnitude but also the sign of the instantaneous deviation of the accumulated shrinkage from a rated value.

Still another object of the invention is to provide means for integrating the deviations of shrinkage from a rated value over a predetermined interval, e.g. a period of 1,000 revolutions of a controlling shaft.

An important feature of the present invention is the provision of a differential counter so arranged on a conventional loomas not to interfere with its normal operation. This shrinkage counter has two inputs respectively actuated by a first rotating element measuring or control ling the movement of the warp threads and by a second rotating element measuring or controlling the advance of the web.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of a shrinkage counter on a conventional loom;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a web-follower element driving one input of the counter of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view (partly in section) of a warpfollower element driving the other input of the counter, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a shrinkage counter with dial mechanism, showing shrinkage deviations from a predetermined value;

Fig. 5 is a face view (parts broken away) of the counter illustrated in Fig. 4, taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of a detail forming part of the counter shown in Figs. 4 and 5;

Fig. 7 shows in axial cross-section a modified shrinkage counter adapted to register accumulated length differences;

Fig. 8 is a lateral elevation of the shrinkage counter shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 shows a third embodiment of a counter according to the invention, also giving cumulative readings;

Figs. 10 and 11 are schematic views of two modifications of the counter shown in Fig. 9;

Fig. 12 is a side view of a shrinkage counter adapted to indicate momentary values of deviation;

Fig. 13 is a sectional view of the counter shown in Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 14-14 of Figs 12 and 13; and

Figs. 15 and 16 show, in different operating positions, a further modification of a counter according to the invention.

In the overall arrangement shown in Fig. 1, a conventional loom 1 (part of whose frame has been omitted) has a Warp beam 2 from which the warp or chain 3 runs, over a warp-feed roller 4 and a warp follower 5, in the usual way over lease rods, heddles, reed and beater, all of which are only schematically indicated and denoted in Fig. 1 by reference numeral 62. After the weaving process, the web or fabric 7 is led over the breast beam 8, a guide roller 9 and a friction roller 10 to the cloth beam 11 where it is rolled up. The warp follower 5 is directly coupled, by means of shaft 17 (see Fig. 4), to the shrinkage counter 6. The rotation of roller 10 is transmitted by a web follower 12, shown as a roller, over a flexible shaft 13 (such as a Bowden cable) to counter 6. Owing to this arrangement, warp follower 5 measures the length of the supplied warp thread while web follower 12 measures the length of the completed web. Both rotational torques are transmitted simultaneously to shrinkage counter 6.

The mounting of the web-follower roller 12 is shown in Fig. 2. A bearing 15 is secured to the frame of loom 1 by a lock nut 16. Roller 12, journaled in this hearing, is preferably coated with a resilient material, for instance rubber, so as to be frictionally entrained by the rough-surfaced roller 10. A pin 14, entering a groove 14a, holds the roller 12 in axially fixed position. The flexible shaft 13, leading to counter 6, is attached to the outer roller end.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the mounting of the warp-follower roller 5. This roller is rotatively entrained by the forward movement (as indicated by the arrow) of the warp threads 3 on which it is floatingly supported with its cast-iron cradle 18; the latter has stabilizing projections 18a, 18b which deflect the warp threads. The support 18 is attached to a steel cable 19 having its other end anchored to the loom frame, the roller 5 being thus prevented from following the warp motion. Roller shaft 17 extends through the loom frame 1 toward shrinkage counter 6. The other end of this shaft has a hole 63 adapted to receive a cotter pin (not shown) upon whose removal the warp-follower assembly 5, 18 may be easily withdrawn from shaft 17 for replacement of roller 5 by another having a smaller or larger diameter. This may be necessary to compensate for varying shrinkage values as encountered in different weaving processes. A single roller will be satisfactory, however, if a stepless speed changer (indicated diagrammatically at 64) is inserted between warp follower 5, 18 and shrinkage counter 6. A similar transmission may also be inserted between web follower 12 and counter 6, as indicated diagrammatically at 65 in Fig. l.

The counter 6 shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is adapted to indicate, as a difference of two rotational movements acting thereon, the shrinkage deviations from a predetermined value. To this end, a dial 20 and a mask 21 are provided; dial 20 is firmly attached to shaft 17 and is consequently rotated in unison with roller 5, or in a' predetermined ratio thereto if transmission 64 is used. A hearing 26 is fixed by a lock nut 16 to loom 1. This bearing supports a pinion 24 which is driven by flexible shaft 13. Mask 21 is fixed to the casing 22 which is freely rotatable about shaft 17 and coupled with shaft 13 through a gear 23 meshing with pinion 24. Dial 20 and mask 21 rotate always in the same sense, i.e. counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 5; the markings on dial 20 are visible through a window 25 cut into mask 21.

As shown in Fig. 5, dial 20 carries two sets of figures F, F, the figures F of the outer circle being in one color (e.g. red) and increasing in clockwise direction, the figures F" of the inner circle being in a complementary color (e.g. green) and increasing in counterclockwise direction; the common numeral 0 may be in a neutral color, e.g. black. A transparent rider 27 is displaceable between two limiting pegs 28', 28 within casing 22. The rider 27 is in frictional engagement with the periphery of dial 20, as best seen in Fig. 6, so that rotation of the dial entrains this rider to the left or to the right until it is stopped by peg 28' or 28" while dial 20 continues to rotate. The two halves 27r, 27g of rider 27 are transparencies having the same two complementary colors, i.e. red (left) and green (right), respectively, whereby, depending on the direction of the relative motion of dial 20 and casing 22, only the outer or the inner set of figures will appear through window 25 while those of the other set will be invisible. Thus, if the shrinkage deviation is positive (shaft 17 rotating faster than cable 13), rider 27 will be carried into engagement with left-hand peg 28 and its green half 27g will be visible through window 25 so that only the contrasting outer figures F will show, indicating increasing values of deviation as the dial 20 leads the casing 22 in its counterclockwise rotation. With negative deviation, the background visible through window 25 will be the red rider half 27r (rider 27 in contact with righthand peg 28") and the contrasting figures F" will indicate the magnitude of this deviation as the dial 20 lags behind the housing 22. Thus, proper adjustments may be made on the loom to eliminate the shrinkage deviation. After such adjustment, or at suitable intervals, the shrinkage counter 6 may be reset to zero; to this end, casing 22 can be pulled forward in relation to shaft 17, against the force of a helical spring 29, whereby the meshing of gears 23, 24 will be interrupted. After the 0 marking on dial 20 has been realigned with window 25, casing 22 is released and returns to its original position owing to the retractive action of its restoring spring 29.

Figs. 7 and 8 show a modified shrinkage counter 106 adapted to be used in lieu of counter 6. Instead of a dial and a mask, the counter 106 has three digit wheels 130 driven by warp-follower roller 5 through shaft 17. The counter is supported on loom 1 by a bracket 126 secured to the loom frame by means of lock nut 16. The rotation imparted by web-follower roller 12 to flexible shaft 13 rotates the casing 122 of the counter which is provided with two slot-like windows 156 and 156" cut out of the housing at diametrically opposite locations. Each digit wheel 130 carries around its circumference two consecutive series of the numerals 0 to 9. Thus, the same readings will appear in both windows in any relative position of wheels 130 and casing 122.

This embodiment gives a wider range of cumulative readings than the previous one, since the number of digit wheels can be increased at will. The counter 106 may be equipped with conventional means for resetting the digit wheels to Zero.

Fig. 9 shows another form of shrinkage counter 206 in which the difference of the rotative speeds of input shafts 13 and 17 is transmitted to the digit wheels 230 by means of a differential gear 252. The casing 226 is fixedly mounted on a two-part gear box 222, 222 secured to the wall of loom 1 by lock nut 16. The two planet wheels 252a, 2521) of the difierential gear 252 are respectively driven by shafts 13 and 17; the differential housing 252e, carrying the sun wheels 2520, 252d on an axle 252 is provided on its outer periphery with gear teeth meshing with a pinion 245 fixed to the driving shaft 243 of the counter. Each digit wheel 230 carries a single peripheral series of numerals 0-9 which can be viewed through a window 256.

A slightly altered counter 306 is shown schematically in Fig. 10. Casing 326 is mounted on gear box 322 which holds differential gear 352. By way of modification, one of the inputs to the shrinkage counter is here constituted by'a shaft 313 connecting the conventional shoot counter 366, forming part of the loom 1, with a pinion 346 meshing with another pinion 345 which is rigid with planet wheel 352a. The rotation of the difierential housing is transmitted to the digit wheels within casing 326 by a connection between drive shaft 343 and sun-wheel axle 3521. The readings are the same as with the embodiment of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 schematically shows a further modification in which the counter 406 has its left-hand input shaft 413 (which may lead to either the web-follower roller 12 or the shoot counter 366) coupled directly with the sun wheel axle, the output of differential gear 452 being fed to digit-wheel shaft 443 via planet wheel 452a and gears 445, 446.

Figs 12-14 show a shrinkage counter 506 adapted to indicate instantaneous values of deviation. These Values can be read through a small window 531 in composite gear box 522', 522". The first rotar'y' input is provided by an extension 513 of flexible shaft 13, the other input being constituted by a shaft 543 extending from the differential gear 552 which may be of the type shown in any of Figs. 9-11. The differential 552 is driven from shaft 17 and, via meshing gears 545, 546 having a transmission ratio of unity, from shaft 513.

The numbers appearing in the window are applied to the periphery of a counter disk 532 controlled by a worm disk 533 which is driven by a worm 560; the shaft 559 of this worm is linked to shaft 543 via a universal joint 544. Disks 532 and 533 carry dogs 535 and 534 respectively. The edge of disk 532 has teeth 537 engaged by a detent 536. Disk 532 is provided with a helical restoring spring 538, disk 533 having a similar spring 542. The restoring action of these springs is, however, limited by the interengagement of dogs 534, 535.

A worm 547, driven by shaft 513, keeps a worm wheel 539 in constant rotation. Wheel 539 is provided near its periphery with a cam 540 which will successively engage the detent 536 and a lever 541, urged downwardly by a spring 558, once during every revolution of wheel 539 so that the worm 560, rotatably carried on this lever, will be disengaged from disk 533 for a shortperiod. At this moment the disk 533 will be turned backwards by the torsional force of its spring 542 until dog 534 reaches an abutment 551 provided on the inner wall of casing portion 522. With worm wheel 539 rotating counterclockvw'se as viewed in Fig. 14, cam 540 momentarily inactivates detent 536 just before lifting lever 541 to disengage worm 560 from disk 533.

The operation of this system is the following: Disk 533 starts turning from its rest position and entrains with its dog 534 the dog 535 of disk 532. With every revolution of worm wheel 539, cam 540 lifts shaft 559 and discontinues the meshing of worm 560 with disk 533, whereupon the latter returns to its rest position determined by abutment 551. Counter disk 532 is held in position by detent 536 against the action of spring 538. As wheel 539 continues its rotation, lever 541 drops into its original posi tion so that the connection of disk 533 and form 560 is re-established.

One revolution of worm wheel 539 corresponds to a predetermined period for which the shrinkage in length is it; b ndcated. period can be adjustedso that it corresponds to 1,000'revolutions of counter shaft 543, or to any desired number of turns.

Upon any subsequent revolution of wheel 539 two possibilities arise. If shrinkage is larger in'the following time period than it was in the previous one, dog 535 is entrained by dog 534 as soon as the previous shrinkage value is reached, detent 536 perrnittingthe unidirectional advance of disk 532 resulting from this entrainment. At the instant when cam 540 inactivates the detent 536, dogs 534, 535 are still in contact with each other so that disk 532 is prevented from snapping back. When, during the further motion of wheel 539, cam 540 disengages wheel 560 and disk 533, dog 534 returns toward abutment 551 while disk 532 remains arrested by detent 536, resulting in a new shrinkage-value indication through the window 531.

If, however, shrinkage decreases in the subsequent period, disk 532 is allowed to snap back, through the action of spring 538, as soon as detent 536 is lifted by cam 540; disk 532 will then move backwards until dog 535 meets dog 534. Thereupon detent 536 again becomes operative just before the meshing of worm 560 with disk 533 is interrupted. Consequently, the shrinkage counter records upon each revolution of wheel 539 only the last shrinkage value which will be corrected after each revolution in the above-described manner.

Figs. 15 and 16 illustrate amechanism for automatically inactivating a counter according to the embodiments shown in Figs. and 14. This mechanism comprises two gears 646, 645 whose shafts 613, 643 are provided with fingers 648 and 649, respectively. These fingers have complementary extremities, one being wedged and the other notched. The number of teeth of the wheels have to be chosen so that they represent relative prime members, e.g. 21 and 29, in which case the two fingers will engage only after 609 revolutions (21x29) of the driving shaft 613. When the two fingers meet, the gears 645, 646 will be disengaged and the counter 606, driven by shaft 643, will stop. To enable such disengagement, shaft 613 is held in a bearing 667 clutched between springloaded arms 650; when the two fingers interact, flexible shaft 613 will drop in its bearing 667 by a distance sufiicient to unmesh the two gears. This movement is facilitated by the provision of two triangular notches 650 in each arm 650, either the upper or the lower notches receiving corresponding triangular projegtions 667 of bearing 667 in the position of Fig. and Fig. 16, respectively. Although input shaft 17 (Fig. 10 or 14) may continue to rotate when the bearing 667 has dropped into the lower notches, output shaft 643 will remain stationary in view of the negligible resistance encountered by gear 645 after the fingers 648, 649 have become disengaged.

The invention is, of course, not limited to the specific embodiments described and illustrated. Thus, some of the features shown in certain of the disclosed embodiments may be used, if desired, in combination with other features from other embodiments, e.g. the shoot counter 366 of Fig. 10 may be connected to shaft 13 in Figs. 7 and. 8, or the indicator disk 532 in Figs. 12l4 may carry a rider similar to member 27 (Figs. 5, 6) adapted to show whether the percentage value visible through window 531 represents an increase or a decrease from a value previously registered. These and other modifications, variations an adaptations are deemed to come within the scope of my herein disclosed invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a loom having means for weaving incoming warp threads into an outgoing fabric, in combination, a first element rotatable in step with the advance of said warp threads, a second element rotatable in step with the advance of said fabric, and a differential counter having two input members and indicating means responsive to relative motion of said input members, said input mem- 6 bers being respectively connected to said first and second elements.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said first element comprises a roller in contact with said warp threads.

3. The combination according to claim 2, further comprising mounting means for said roller fioatingly supporting same on said warp threads, said mounting means ineluding a shaft coupled with one of said input members.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said mounting means further includes a bracket swingably positioned on said shaft, said warp threads passing between said roller and said bracket.

5. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said second element comprises a roller in contact with said fabric.

6. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said loom is provided with a shoot counter responsive to the number of weft threads woven into said fabric, said second element comprising a shaft coupled with said shoot counter.

7. The combination according to claim 1, further comprising a flexible shaft coupling said second element with one of said input members.

8. The combination according to claim 1, further comprising adjustable speed-changing means inserted between one of said elements and one of said input members.

9. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said counter comprises differential gear means, said input members forming part of said differential gear means, said diiferential gear means having an output member coupled with said indicator means.

10. The combination according to claim 9 wherein said indicator means comprises a movable carrier bearing a plurality of markings, coupling means for operatively connecting said output member with said carrier, nestoring means tending to return said carrier to a starting position, and release means for inactivating said coupling means.

11. The combination according to claim 10 wherein said release means is coupled to one of said elements for periodic inactivation of said coupling means.

12. The combination according to claim 11 wherein said coupling means includes a first disk, said carrier being a second disk coaxial with said first disk, said disks being provided with co-operating formations mutually engageable for entrainment of said second disk by said first disk against the force of said restoring means, said restoring means tending to return said first disk to a starting position, said coupling means further including detent means for said disks periodically operable by said release means for momentary disengagement of said second disk followed by momentary disengagement of said first disk.

13. The combination according to claim 9 wherein one of said elements comprises a first shaft and one of said input members comprises a second shaft, said differential gear means being provided with transmission means interconnecting said shafts for rotation in unison, said transmission means being provided with co-acting formations mounted for interengabement in a predetermined relative position of said shafts, said formations when thus interengaged being adapted to inactivate said transmission means.

14. The combination according to claim 13 wherein said transmission means comprises two gears respectively mounted on said shafts, said gears having respective sets of teeth whose numbers are relatively prime.

15. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said counter comprises a plurality of digit wheels, one of said input members comprising a rotatable housing for said digit wheels, the other of said input members comprising a drive shaft for said digit wheels coaxial with said housing.

16. The combination according to claim 15 wherein each of said digit wheels is provided on its periphery with a plurality of digital series angularly spaced from one another, said housing being provided with a like plurality of angularly spaced windows enabling identical digits to be viewed therethrough.

17. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said counter comprises a dial coupled with one of said input members and a mask coupled with the other of said input members, said dial and said mask being coaxially mounted for relative rotation, said mask having a window exposing part of said dial, said dial bearing markings viewable through said window.

18. The combination according to claim 17 wherein said dial is a disk provided on its periphery with a rider frictionally entrainable thereon, further comprising stop means entrained by said mask for limiting the displacement of said rider on either side of said window whereby said rider remains aligned with said window, said rider having two transparent portions of distinctive appearance overlying said markings and registering with said window in respective'limiting positions of said rider.

l9. Thecombination according toclaim 18 wherein said portions, are in complementary colors, said markings being divided into two groups of similar complementary colors whereby the markings of only one group are readily visible through said rider in either of its said limiting positions. 20. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said counter is provided with release means momentarily operable to decouple at least one of said elements from the associated input member, thereby enabling a resettin of said indicator means to a normal position.

No references cited. 

